It is usual to provide installation lights in passenger cabins of aircraft, buses, trains and likewise, above the passenger seats, these installation lights in each case being assigned to a seat. These installation lights, as a rule, are designed such that their emittance angle, i.e. the spatial angle of the light emitted by the installation light, is quite confined. In this manner, the neighboring passengers are not excessively disturbed by the emitted light of the installation light, but the passenger location itself in contrast is well illuminated, in particular is adequately illuminated for reading.
Installation lights of this type, which have been known until now, comprise a lighting means receiver, with lighting means arranged therein, typically an incandescent lamp. In order to be able to align the light spot produced by the lighting means, onto an object such as a book or newspaper in a targeted manner, the lighting means receiver is usually arranged in a rotatable or pivotable manner about a horizontal axis as well as a vertical axis, in a suitably designed holder. Such an installation light is described in US 2002/0145871 A1, with which however several lighting means are arranged in a lighting means receiver.
The movable components which are required for this, render the installation lights heavy, prone to wear and expensive in maintenance. Apart from this, it has been found that these installation lights are difficult to operate by passengers with limited tactile capabilities.
DE 102 51 133 B3 describes a lighting device for the interior of a motor vehicle, with several light sources, wherein the emittance power and the emittance direction of the lighting device may be controlled in a touch-free manner by way of signals detected by a proximity sensor. The application of such an illumination device in passenger cabins of aircraft, buses and trains, with which the lighting devices are arranged above the seat locations, tends to be rather disadvantageous, since there it is possible to leave the seating locations and this, with the movements of the passengers which this entails, may change the emittance characteristics of these illumination devices in an unintended manner.
A lighting device with light sources emitting weak light for the incident light illumination of regions of the vehicle interior is known from DE 10 2004 039 284 A1, with which the light sources are connected to a control unit and may be individually switched on and off with this. The goal of the lighting device known from D2 is to provide diffuse light which is spread as widely as possible, in order not to dazzle the driver of the vehicle. Inasmuch as this is concerned, the lighting devices described in DE 10 2004 039 284 A1 also tend to be rather unsuitable for the application as a reading light in passenger cabins of aircraft, buses and trains.